Nearly a decade after scary stories of “ghosting” struck terror into anyone navigating the hellish waters of Tinder, Bumble, or Raya, yet another ghoul-ish dating trend has emerged from the broader dating zeitgeist, ready to fill our single souls with terror – Zombieing.

The scarier, undead cousin to its specter-esque counterpart, the premise behind zombieing is fairly intuitive. The spiritual (no pun intended) successor to ghosting, Zombieing is when an ex re-emerges from the dead to slide into your DMs, more often than not sporting a newly-broken heart from some other soured romance and with bullshit excuses that sound as though they were ripped from The D.E.N.N.I.S. System episode of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

While the term first emerged on the heels of the “ghosting” craze in the mid-20-teens, the concept – much like our annoying ass exes – has reanimated back into relevancy, emerging as the subject of several viral TikToks, including musician and influencer @Mariel_Daring’s latest viral clip.

@mariel_darling who else has been ✨zombied✨ #dating #relationship #situationship #talkingphase #ghosting #ghosted #toxic #commitment #love #relatable #boys #commitmentissues #girls #bf #single #relationshipadvice ♬ Love You So - The King Khan & BBQ Show

“Girl, you’re being ghosted? I’m out here being zombied,” she said in her clip which has since amassed upwards of 1.3 million views. “It’s like ghosting but he comes back from the dead after a couple of months and hits you up.”

However, @Mariel_Daring is far from alone in navigating her personal zombie apocalypse – just ask several of the commenters who relayed their tales of undead dating woe.

“Have you ever noticed that they all zombie you at the same time?” asked @ellehull98. “Like why are four guys from my past all hitting me up on the same day???”

@mariel_darling Replying to @kelseyandcali zombie apocalypse = nyc dating #dating #relationship #situationship #talkingphase #ghosting #ghosted #toxic #commitment #love #nyc #relatable #boys #commitmentissues #girls #bf #single #relationshipadvice #nycdating #datinglife ♬ Love You So - The King Khan & BBQ Show

“Mine has a Jesus Christ complex, he comes back every 3 days,” added @marianasf193.

But hey, we’d take Zombies and bad Jesus cosplayers over lurking Caspers – the “friendly” ghosts that religiously watch your Instagram stories and like your posts despite leaving your ass on seen – any day of the goddamn week.